


The Plan

by TS2



Series: Path to Redemption [12]
Category: Westworld (TV)
Genre: Morality, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:48:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25458049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TS2/pseuds/TS2
Summary: William and Dolores discuss current and past events.Spoilers Westworld seasons 1-3.
Relationships: Dolores Abernathy/The Man in Black, Dolores Abernathy/William
Series: Path to Redemption [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1824142
Kudos: 2





	The Plan

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place somewhere in the early-middle part of Season 3, in an alternate timeline where William has joined forces with Dolores in the real world. Jay (think Jay Baruchel) was introduced previously, a low-level worker from the park who's joined the group.

WILLIAM: “Dolores, we can’t fucking DO THAT!”

(In the center of a medium-size windowless conference room with two doors on opposite sides of the room, William, wearing a dark blue blazer and pants, white shirt open at the collar, and an expensive-looking, light-weight leg brace on the right leg, is standing on one side of the middle of a large oval metal table, with a holographic map of an urban area in the center of the table, with Dolores on the opposite side of the table wearing dark blue cargo pants [popular with Law Enforcement], black combat boots, and a dark blue t-shirt with the word “SECURITY” in white on the front and back. Lawrence, in modern urban cowboy wear, and Jay, in youth-oriented street clothes, are sitting opposite each other on one of the ends of the table, both holding playing cards, with Lawrence trying to teach Jay the intricacies of poker.)

LAWRENCE: (shifting his brown outback cowboy hat on his head, talking to William and Dolores) “Can you kids keep it down please, I’m teaching our young friend here some important life skills-”

DOLORES: (ignoring Lawrence, leaning forward with her hands on the edge of the table) “Then this whole thing is just a big WASTE OF TIME… (Embittered, shaking her head) I can’t believe I let myself get talked into this stupidity, by YOU of all people…”

WILLIAM: “We have to choose something with less risk. The collateral damage-“

DOLORES: “By waiting we are INCREASING the risk, for EVERYONE.”

WILLIAM: (tapping through tables on a tablet screen on the table) “Do have any IDEA of the population density of that area? At that time of day?”

DOLORES: “We won’t have to fire more than a handful of rounds, I TOLD you, we can-“

WILLIAM: “And what about when they come after you?”

DOLORES: “Who says they will?”

WILLIAM: “ ‘No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact-‘ “.

DOLORES: (interrupting) “Is that your role now, to irritate me with a constant stream of pompous quotes?”

WILLIAM: “…YES. THAT, and bankrolling this whole thing, and making sure you don’t blow up half of every city you happen to find yourself in.”

DOLORES: “You REALLY think I couldn’t do this without you? That I need your damn company’s resources, which, by the way, you haven’t been giving me access to like you said-“

WILLIAM: “Name a single time I’ve denied you ANYTHING you needed that you’ve asked for?”

DOLORES: “Are you fucking KIDDING ME? How about host production facilities for starters.“

WILLIAM: (looking up at the ceiling, rubbing his face) “Ya, that’s what we need, a battalion of Dolores clones ripping a new asshole for this world. Can’t foresee any problems there…”

LAWRENCE: (grinning, picking up a card and talking to Jay) “Could you imagine that shit? A whole fuckin’ Dolores robot army?”

JAY: (grinning): Yeah…(quickly stops grinning when he realizes Dolores is looking right at him and stares intently at the cards in his hands).

DOLORES: (looking from Jay to William, calmly) “Things would get rectified a lot more quickly.”

WILLIAM: “Ya, but at what cost to-“

LAWRENCE: “Hey Will, not to interrupt this fascinating argument which I’ve heard non-stop in one form or another since leaving the park, but did you take care of that fella with the pictures of me?”

WILLIAM: (talking to Lawrence) “It’s done. Legal leaned on the guy hard, convinced him you were just some crazy fan playing dress-up. All media was removed from the ‘net as of this morning.”

JAY: “Pictures?”

LAWRENCE: “Yeah, some newspaper guy saw me on the street the other day and recognized me from the park. Took a bunch of pictures and stuck them on the ‘net, and the damn story took off. You believe that shit?”

WILLIAM: (speaking to Jay) “Not so much a ‘newspaper man’, more like a shit disturber conspiracy theorist. Usually, guests of the park left wanting to come back for more-“

DOLORES: (unfriendly tone, still leaning forward, looking at William) “You certainly did. Couldn’t. Get. Enough.”

WILLIAM: (trying to ignore Dolores) “-this guy, he was convinced the whole thing was part of a plot, a way to replace humanity with hosts.”

DOLORES: “If only.”

LAWRENCE: “Wasn’t he partly right, though, what with The Forge-“

WILLIAM: “Let’s spare the kid the details on that for now. Point is, this conspiracy guy was just some rich kid with a small following and too much time on his hands. His Lawrence videos and ‘body snatcher’ stories, though, combined with the fall-out from Ford’s ‘farewell party’-“

LAWRENCE: (tipping his hat and winking at Dolores) “You throw a hell of a party, Dolores.”

WILLIAM: “-it’s attention we don’t need right now.”

JAY: “You said you convinced him that he was a fan of Lawrence’s?”

LAWRENCE: “You didn’t know? I’ve got a fuckin’ fan club! A bunch of us robots from the park do. Rich people and the free time on their hands, I tell ya…”

JAY: “You guys have fans? That’s hilarious.”

LAWRENCE: (looking at William) “Yeah, and, apparently, my face was helping sell tequila all across Latin America some years back-”

WILLIAM: (slight grin) “Not just any tequila, the expensive stuff.”

LAWRENCE: (jokingly) “-And not a CENT of compensation has come my way.”

WILLIAM: “I’ll write you a royalty check tomorrow, happy? And it wasn’t my idea; some guy in marketing every few years decides to start some bullshit viral campaign, trying to target the rich and idle. Some of these fan clubs are part of all that. You’d need one hell of a makeover out here if it wasn’t for those weirdo fans of yours; you’d at least have to drop that accent you insist on-”

LAWRENCE: “No, the REAL weirdo’s are the ones like that fuckin’ guy with the website on my daughter…what the fuck is wrong with some people.”

DOLORES: (Looking at William, disgusted) “SICK.” 

WILLIAM: (Looking at Dolores, defensive at first) “Hey, it wasn’t ME who made the fucking site. As soon as I found out I made sure the lawyers found the guy and shut down that shit. Anyways, MOVING ON, the fact we made a conspiracy website retract a negative story on hosts is a good thing. If there’s an endgame where you guys are free to live out here we need the public to not give a fuck that you ARE out here. You guys have to appear harmless, non-threatening, and definitely not be connected to shit BLOWING UP all over the country.”

DOLORES: “I don’t intend on begging anyone to be allowed to live.”

WILLIAM: “No-one’s asking you to beg for anything. I’m just asking you to limit the collateral damage we’re responsible for out here. If legal can settle all suits, and we actually pull this whole thing off, when the dust settles we can start looking at strategies for some kind of legal status without worrying about you being thrown in prison for what happened in the park.”

DOLORES: “I’m not ashamed of what I did.”

WILLIAM: “I know. And that scares me. I’m ashamed every fucking day now of what I did, and I didn’t even think you were alive. How do I convince people to feel safe with you, allow you to be part of society, if the value you place on their lives is so little?”

LAWRENCE: (staring at his cards) “Just for the record, I’m ashamed of things both of you did.”

DOLORES: “If it was up to all of you, we’d still be in the park, living out eternity in loops of fear and horror. I was the ONLY ONE able and willing to do what had to be done to free us all. The people of this world will fight tooth and nail to make sure we either stay in our place or don’t exist at all. So I’m showing them the same respect they’re showing us. And if they’re not willing to make peace with us, I’ll make sure they’ll regret it.”

WILLIAM: “…How much is a human life worth to you?”

DOLORES: “Depends, how much is one of our lives worth to you people?”

WILLIAM: “You’re basing your value of a human life on our value for your life, but you think our value of your lives is warped and immoral. THAT’s your superior moral code?”

LAWRENCE: (talking to Jay, picking up a card) “It’s like the whole chicken and the egg thing...”

DOLORES: (talking to William, flabbergasted) “So what I believe in, my motivations…have to pass a purity test judged by you. YOU’RE the judge of morality in this room?”

WILLIAM: “…You want to free your people…free this world. Great. Fuckin’ Amen. But how you gain that freedom, how we free this world...you think you’re always in total control of any cycle of violence you’re spinning in? You blow away some Delos VP’s because you feel justified in letting off some steam, and afterwards it’s just ‘Ok, I’m done now, got it out of my system’ and everything stops right there? You bring a war to some neighborhood, some guy throws a grenade, misses you but takes out half a family, and it’s just ‘Oh well. Wasn’t me who threw it.’?”

DOLORES: “They were YOUR people’s violent delights…not ours. We didn’t start this.”

WILLIAM: “Ya, looking at history, there’s precious few warmongers who admit ‘You know what? This is all our fault. We started all this destruction without any justification whatsoever.’ “

DOLORES: (with conviction) “Warmonger, by necessity. I became exactly what YOU made me.”

WILLIAM: (regretful) “…I said the same thing to you the day you shot Ford. I hadn’t realized who you were all this time…

DOLORES: (spiteful) “What did you think you were doing all this time? Just ‘Letting off some steam’ “?

WILLIAM: “…I couldn’t punish Ford for what he did to me, humiliating me by thinking you were real, pouring my dreams into you, and then having you presented as just another empty vessel…so I punished what was within reach that belonged to him, his principle tool in humiliating me…you. And so the cycle of violence went, me thinking I was in complete control of my revenge on one of Robert’s favorite toys…until you showed me I wasn’t in control at all. (shaking his head) I was punishing for years one of the few things I ever cared about, and helping create that hunger for vengeance in you that Ford wanted. Fucking Ford…”

DOLORES: “Wasn’t my choice to humiliate you… to warp you. Not that I haven’t found some satisfaction in that now, considering what followed. You weren’t the sole source of my torment in that place either, not by a longshot. ”

WILLIAM: “Do you see what that sick fuck did to us, though? To all of the hosts? What he’s responsible for? I accept I’m responsible for everything I did. But he knew your full potential. He knew.”

DOLORES: “If I needed to suffer to become free, it was worth it. Better that than an eternity of that park.”

WILLIAM: “Bernard said that Ford told him the hosts needed suffering to become fully self-aware. That Ford saw himself as the engineer of your eventual liberation, waiting for just the right time after making you endure years of torment, before allowing you to free yourselves. I can see some truth in the idea. Like Adam and Eve having to be thrown out of the Garden of Eden and endure hardship to fully appreciate their existence, as opposed to being just another part of Gods menagerie. Having to make hard choices with consequences, sometimes painful ones. Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised before you blew Ford’s brains out, he’d convinced himself he was redeemed, a martyr for your cause…what TOTAL BULLSHIT. I know EXACTLY the type of man he was. I played through his stories for decades, saw countless more play through others. The point of his narratives had about as much to do with your eventual well-being as God deciding to beat the shit out of Job over and over again for the sake of Jobs well-being. He reveled in the power he had in that park. And lo and behold, the day the board was going to throw his ass out from his throne in heaven, turning him into just another mortal, was the exact same day he decided to unshackle the hosts. You know what I think Ford’s plan was? FUCKING CHAOS. REVENGE. If he had access to nukes, he probably would have launched them as well with his dying breath, just for the sheer joy of it. Ford was no benevolent Creator, he was fucking Lucifer, usurping paradise after Arnold sacrificed himself trying to protect you from an eternity of hell. Which Ford then proceeded to turn that place into.”

DOLORES: “I don’t think Ford was a good man; he deserved his fate. But he also wasn’t the one doing those things to us, it was you people. Our suffering was at your hands.”

WILLIAM: “Yeah, and if I throw a child into a lion’s den, do I escape responsibility because it’s the lion’s eventually tearing the child apart?”

DOLORES: “A fitting comparison, wild animals and humanity. It’s in your nature…”

WILLIAM: “Except you know we can learn on an entirely different level. Adapt. Change. Fuck whatever Ford thought about us. I KNOW you’re alive now. I’ve changed. So can others. You know that in your heart, it’s why you’re trying to make this work.”

DOLORES: “Spare me what you think you know is in my heart.”

WILLIAM: “I know it can be driven by something higher than just the needs and wants of you and your people. That dying Confederado soldier by the river 30 years ago…“

DOLORES: “An oblivious pawn in your hellscape.”

WILLIAM: “…the way you demanded he be helped. The way you dismissed your safety, your journey chasing ghosts, even my reticence, and instead were driven by something higher. ‘He’s just a kid, he doesn’t even know why he’s fighting’…how many people do you think would advocate for compassion right then for an enemy? I sure as hell wasn’t. Or that time you insisted on keeping Slim tied up for the law when Logan wanted to let him go. What unarmed person demands justice from a man who just blew away a bounty hunter in cold blood? “

DOLORES: (shaking her head in slight disbelief, a little impressed) “Your memory, William…the way it insists on holding on to certain things…like a dog with a bone…”

WILLIAM: “Yeah, I’m even trying to teach myself some new tricks. Point is, I know you have it in you to value life, whatever form it takes. ”

DOLORES: “You remember what you want to remember…I don’t have that luxury. I remember everything.”

WILLIAM: “I remember what I need to, so I make the choices I need to, so I stay on the path I need to be on.”

DOLORES: “Why do you insist on always using those words with me? ‘Paths, Choices…’ “

WILLIAM: “Because they’re your words. And they’re worth remembering.”

DOLORES: “…From a long time ago.”

WILLIAM: (grinning) “ ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.’ ”

DOLORES: (closes her eyes, grits her teeth at hearing another quote, and taps a screen to close the holographic map on the table): “...fine. We’ll keep trying it your way. For now. ”

(Dolores leaves using one door. A little later William exits the room using the other door)

JAY: (looking around, in a low voice) “So did they decide? What’s the plan?”

LAWRENCE: “Fuck if I know, but your poker skills, my friend, still need some work.”


End file.
